Before the end of the year, Laurel Hill Park in Secaucus will get a new walkway allowing pedestrian access over the Hackensack River, parallel to the shoreline. The walkway will include fishing stations and will be Americans with Disabilities Act accessible.

“We couldn’t be more pleased to have that beautiful addition going into a park in Secaucus,” said Mayor Michael Gonnelli. “It will be something you can walk on, sit on, watch the sunset, sunrise. But you can also fish off it.”

Promenade partnership

The waterfront promenade is part of shoreline restoration project designated by the nonprofit Hackensack Riverkeeper organization to enhance the river.

The project is funded through a legal settlement with Honeywell International, Inc. for about $1.25 million. The money has been put in escrow for the Hackensack Riverkeeper. There should be no cost to taxpayers for the promenade.

County Executive Tom DeGise, at the request of the Hackensack Riverkeeper, is seeking approval from the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders to enter into a shared services agreement that designates control of the site for the purposes of constructing the promenade to the Hudson County Improvement Authority (HCIA).

“I fully support the partnership between the Hackensack Riverkeeper and the HCIA in order to build this new Hudson County public waterfront promenade,” said County Executive Tom DeGise in a press release. “The Riverkeeper was looking for an entity with experience in the preservation and enhancement of environmentally sensitive areas of our county, and no organization has more expertise in this arena than the HCIA.”

Mayor Gonnelli has stated that he hopes to see the promenade connect with walkways extending to the further end of Secaucus at Mill Creek Point Park.

_____________ “We couldn’t be more pleased to have that beautiful addition going into a park in Secaucus.” –Michael Gonnelli____________

The project was announced on March 20, the first day of spring. Among those in attendance ion Laurel Hill Park were Gonnelli, DeGise, Hudson County Improvement Authority (HCIA) Chairman John Shinnick, HCIA Executive Director Norman Guerra, and Riverkeeper Captain Bill Sheehan.

“That is a county project so they tell me it’s going to be done by September,” said Gonnelli. “It should be a really great improvement to an already great area.”

Downtown project

Also upcoming is a different type of environmental project right in the center of town.

“That’s going to be the first all-solar, green bus stop in the state of New Jersey,” said Mayor Gonnelli.

“It’s made out of cortex steel, which is maintenance free,” he continued. “It’s got solar panels on the top, so it powers the shelter. There’s a clock and a message board that’ll have bus schedules and community events. The rainwater goes into all the planters that are built around it, to water it.”

“It’s going to be the first ever,” he said.

The bus stop will be located across from Buchmuller Park, by the pre-K building. “Hopefully it’ll be done by the end of the summer,” said Gonnelli.